1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a method of molding a foamed plastic article, and more particularly to a method of molding a skin-covered foamed plastic article, which generally comprises by steps placing a skin member in a mold in a manner to intimately cover the wall of the cavity of the mold, pouring a liquid material of foamed plastics into the cavity, curing the material and removing a product, viz., the skin-covered foamed plastic article from the mold upon sufficient hardening of the material.
2 Description of the Prior Art
In order to clarify the task of the present invention, one conventional method of molding a skin-covered foamed plastic article will be outlined with reference to FIGS. 10, 11 and 12.
Referring to the drawings, particularly FIG. 10, there is shown a seat 100 including a seat cushion 102 and a seatback 104 which are produced by the conventional molding method using such a mold 106 as shown in FIG. 12. As is seen from FIG. 11 which shows a cross section taken along the line XI--XI of FIG. 10, the seat cushion 102 (or the seatback 104) comprises a foamed plastic 108 serving as a structural base of the seat cushion 102, and a skin member 110 intimately covering and integrally adhered to the foamed plastic 108. The skin member 110 has a stitched portion 112 which extends along the peripheral portion of the bag-shaped skin member 110.
The conventional method of molding the seat cushion 102 (or seatback 104) is as follows:
First, the mold 106 is heated to a predetermined temperature. Then, a skin member 110 in the form of bag is put into the cavity 114 of the mold 106 with its mouth portion directed upward. Uon proper setting of the skin member 110 in the mold 106, an elongate ridge 116 formed around the wall of the cavity 114 of the mold 106 is engaged with the stitched portion 112 of the skin member 110 to assure positioning of the same with respect to the mold 106. Then, a liquid material of foamed plastics is poured into the cavity 114, and a lid 118 is placed on the mold 106 as is seen from FIG. 12. After a while, that is, after the material is cured or hardened to a certain level, a skin-covered foamed plastic article, viz., the seat cushion 102 is removed from the mold 106.
However, in the conventional method as described hereinabove, it is difficult or at least troublesome to properly set the skin member 110 in the right position in the cavity 114 of the mold 106. That is, the setting of the skin member 110 in the mold 106 should be made by stretching the operators hand or hands awkwardly within the bag-shaped skin member 110. In other words, the operator has to work blindly to set the skin member 110 in the mold 106. In fact, it sometimes occurs that the production of the seat cushion 102 (or seatback 104) is made with some unsightly creases remaining on the outer surface of the skin member 102 due to the inevitable blind work. Of course, these creases deteriorate the quality of the products.